Case against Jones' Michigan rally raises constitutional concerns

Wednesday

Apr 27, 2011 at 5:52 PM

Legal experts say the case against Dove World Outreach Center pastor Terry Jones is problematic and raises several constitutional issues.

By Chad SmithStaff writer

Last week, two pastors from Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville were jailed briefly in Michigan after each initially refused to post a $1 bond meant to serve as a security deposit on their keeping the peace there.

Michigan law allows for demanding and collecting so-called peace bonds “for the preservation of the public peace to be kept.”

“If a person is brought before the court by a complaint … and does not consent to post a recognizance, the court shall conduct a trial and shall determine if a recognizance is required. The person has a right to a trial by jury,” the law states.

Len Niehoff, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, said the peace bond is rarely invoked in the state and is widely considered unconstitutional — a concern voiced locally by legal experts and elected officials and cited as a reason such a peace bond could not be employed here.

After the brief detention in Michigan of Terry Jones, the senior pastor at the 30-member Dove World church, and Dove World associate pastor Wayne Sapp, Jones sent out a news release — complete with a cellphone photo of himself behind bars — declaring the “City of Dearborn used the court as an instrument to prevent our protest from taking place today as scheduled, and has now violated our civil liberties by preventing us from exercising our freedom of speech as planned.”

Local legal scholars said the legal maneuvers the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office made ahead of Jones’ rally were constitutionally problematic.

“To arrest him proactively for refusal to pay a fee for a protest that hasn’t happened yet? It’s like arresting him for thinking about breaching the peace. It’s horrible,” said Lyrissa Lidsky, a professor of law at the University of Florida and an expert on the First Amendment.

Part of prosecutors’ concerns stemmed from the international firestorm — including deadly protests and the killings of United Nations workers — that followed Dove World’s decision last month to burn a copy of the Quran following a mock trial at the church.

Jones and Sapp were in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn for an anti-Islam rally they wanted to hold on Good Friday in front of the Islamic Center of America, the nation’s largest mosque.

But the court proceedings lasted throughout the day, and the pair’s protest was put on hold.

A week before the planned rally, two assistant Wayne County prosecutors brought a complaint listing dangers that might arise out of the protest.

“The Initial danger is the blocking of a two-lane street in an area deemed to be unsafe for gathering,” the complaint stated. “The greatest danger is the likelihood of a riot ensuing, complete with the discharge of firearms, unless this proposed bond is granted.”

A jury deliberated for several hours and ultimately agreed with the prosecutors, who asked for a $45,000 bond, the Detroit Free Press reported. The judge, Mark Somers, decided on $1 each.

Spencer Mann, a spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office representing Alachua County, said there doesn’t appear to be a law in Florida that would allow a court to demand a bond out of fear of a breach of the peace.

Asked whether that could be made into law here, Mann said he wasn’t sure.

Asked whether it should be, Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe said he couldn’t say, adding that he wants his city to tread lightly when dealing with Jones’ church to avoid what could be costly lawsuits “that could be then used to fund his next misadventures.”

Lidsky, the UF professor, said it would not be a good road for Florida to go down.

“It’s like a contract to be peaceful,” she said of the peace bond, “which is frankly a little silly because all of us have an obligation to engage in a peaceful protest.”

But the Wayne County prosecutor, Kym Worthy, said the intention of the complaint wasn’t muzzling the pastors but maintaining the peace.

“These proceedings were solely about public safety,” Worthy said in a statement. “This was never about prohibiting free speech or fearing rioting but about a situation that could potentially place the public in danger in Dearborn. I will continue to take stands to be proactive in keeping Wayne County safe.”

Niehoff, the Michigan professor, cited a recent Supreme Court case that determined the controversial Westboro Baptist Church was allowed to picket outside of military funerals because the location was key to the message it was sending.

In Dearborn, Jones said the mosque was critical to his protest, though Niehoff said the city can make a case for trying to move it.

But the key, Niehoff said, for the city and the prosecutors if Jones and Sapp return to Dearborn this week, as they said they will, is to think about whether their strategy worked.

He would advise a game plan that stems from an old saying: “The remedy for the speech we hate is more speech.”